Between the dark, Lynchian spectacle of her “We Can’t Stop” video and her now-notorious twerking performance at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards, it’s clear that Miley Cyrus is hellbent on distancing herself from her squeaky-clean past, and she hammers the point home in the video for new Bangerz single “Wrecking Ball,” an ’80s-influenced power rock ballad that takes the titular concept and makes it, well, extremely loud and incredibly literal.

The video sees Miley in various stages of undress (at one point completely nude) riding a wrecking ball (imagery!) through a kind of gray-stone faux-demolition site, although there’s a lovely and haunting close-up of her face, her eyes so blue as they well up with tears. She also licks a sledgehammer, provocatively. There’s not much more to it than that, and that’s okay. With just a few scenes, she makes a very, very clear statement.

She certainly looks great — her body is bangin’, although as well it should be, since there’s so much of it exposed — but I’m not sure if this is going to have the intended effect. I don’t know what Miley is doing, frankly, but God knows she’s on a journey.